The invention relates to an aircraft landing gear and is primarily concerned with a landing gear which, in use, is attached at four-points to part of an airframe.
Where an undercarriage having four mounting members connected to the airframe by four attachments is locked in a down position, the loading in the individual mounting members is statically indeterminate and deflection of the airframe can induce substantial forces in the individual mounting members.
An object of the present invention is to provide a landing gear in which such induced loading will be reduced.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided an aircraft landing gear including a plurality of mounting members to be attached to an airframe of the aircraft via respective attachments, one of the attachments being displaceable in one direction and substantially non-displaceable in a transverse direction thereby reducing induced loading in the members resulting from airframe deflection.
In that way, the landing gear is much more able to accommodate loading resulting from the aforesaid airframe deflection as the load which would otherwise be induced in the mounting members is reduced.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided an aircraft landing gear including a plurality of mounting members to be attached to an airframe of the aircraft via respective attachments, one of the attachments being displaceable in one direction with its associated mounting member being substantially non-displaceable in a transverse direction thereby reducing induced loading in the members resulting from airframe deflection.
Preferably, the displaceable attachment is displaceable in an up-and-down direction
Preferably, the displaceable attachment or associated mounting member is non-displaceable in a side-to-side sense in relation to the fore-and-aft direction of the aircraft. In that way, sideways stability of the landing gear remains unaffected by the use of the displaceable attachment and torque on the landing gear leg can still be reacted through the displaceable attachment.
The displaceable attachment is preferably flexible and, in that respect, may be a spring such as a leaf spring. In the latter case, the leaf spring may extend in a side-to-side direction to provide the sideways stability and torque reaction capabilities, as previously discussed.
In a preferred embodiment, the displaceable attachment defines a pintle axis for its associated mounting member, which may be a landing gear leg, or xe2x80x9cmain fittingxe2x80x9d.
Preferably, the displaceable attachment comprises an arm which, in use, is pivotally mounted at one end to the airframe. In such a case, the aforesaid pintle axis is preferably spaced from the pivotal mounting for the arm. Conveniently, the opposite end of the arm may, in use, be pivotally connected to the airframe through a link. The link permits displacement of the arm to take place about the pivot without inducing longitudinal forces in the arm.
The member associated with the displaceable attachment may be a forward mounting member of the landing gear.
In a preferred embodiment, two of the said mounting members are in the form of side stays.
According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a landing gear according to the first or second said aspect of the invention or any of the consistory clauses relating thereto.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention there is provided an aircraft wing having landing gear thereon according to the first or second said aspect of the invention or any of the consistory clauses relating thereto.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention there is provided an aircraft having a landing gear according to the first or second said aspect of the invention or any of the consistory clauses relating thereto.